PRINTING.

The work of issuing the Department's publications has progressed satisfactorily during the year. As in the preceding year, the Office of the Secretary has conducted the relations between the Government Printing Office and all of the bureaus, except the Bureau of the Census, preparing the requisitions on the Public Printer and keeping record of them and of the cost of the work. The Secretary is thus enabled to maintain close supervision over the Department's expenditures for printing and binding (with the exception noted), and to have all publications examined before their issue, with a view to their revision, when necessary, in the interests of uniformity, brevity, and economy. As a result of this supervision it is notable that despite the growth of the Department, and the fact that the annual publications of the bureaus transferred to it July 1, 1903, first appeared as a charge against its appropriation in the past fiscal year, the expenditure for printing and binding increased but 62 per cent, and about 43 per cent of the sum appropriated by Congress for these purposes (exclusive of the appropriation for the Bureau of the Census) will be covered into the Treasury. As the number of books and pamphlets printed in the fiscal year 1905 was over 300 per cent greater than in the preceding year, owing to the causes above noted the reduction of the cost of each volume is seen to be considerable. A part of this reduction is due to the elimination of unnecessary text and illustrations, and in future it is hoped to effect much larger economy in this way. The saving effected in the past year was chiefly in the cost of the relatively few publications which were carefully read by the newly organized editorial force, and it is believed that the value of these publications was also considerably enhanced.

The limitations contained in section 89 of the printing act as to the number of reports, publications, or documents which may be printed seriously handicapped the Department on several occasions during the past year. The province and duty of the Department- "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce, the mining, manufacturing, shipping, and fishery industries, the labor interests, and the transportation facilities of the United States"-is discharged largely through the dissemination of information and data collected at great care and expense. The prompt and wide circulation of reports and publications on these subjects is not only of primary importance, but is absolutely necessary to enable the Department to attain the end for which it was created. It is obvious that reports and publications of this character should not be classed with reports of purely administrative work which have but a limited circulation among officers of the Government. I therefore recommend that the Secretary of Commerce and Labor be authorized to have printed an edition of not to

exceed 10,000 copies of any publication issued by the Department whenever there is a demand and necessity for such an edition.

PURCHASE OF SUPPLIES.

With the exception of purely technical supplies-such as scientific instruments and apparatus-all the stationery and supplies used by the Department in Washington and by its various services outside of Washington have been purchased through the Division of Supplies of the Secretary's Office during the past year. In the fiscal year past the Department has made its own contracts for the purchase of stationery and supplies for the first time, and in consequence a uniform and much higher standard of quality has been obtained.

The consolidation of the contingent funds of the various bureaus with the general contingent fund of the Department is again urged, in order that the present cumbersome and expensive system of reimbursement may be avoided and that a uniform standard and greater economy in the purchase and distribution of supplies for the whole Department may be procured.

BUREAU OF MANUFACTURES.

The Bureau of Manufactures, although authorized under the act creating the Department of Commerce and Labor, was not organized until February, 1905, and has made satisfactory progress. In April circular letters were sent to commercial and trade organizations requesting suggestions regarding the best means of promoting the foreign trade of the United States. The answers received show that very general interest was felt in the accomplishment of the objects for which the Bureau was created, and all of the writers expressed a readiness to cooperate with the Bureau in this work.

In July circular letters were addressed to manufacturers and exporters calling attention to the purpose of Congress in establishing the Bureau of Manufactures and soliciting their cooperation. In reply many responses were received and information furnished that will be useful in prosecuting the work of the Bureau and which has been made the basis of what is intended to be a comprehensive card index of our manufacturing and commercial concerns, and especially those engaged in making and handling goods for foreign markets.

On July 1 the Division of Consular Reports, which upon the organization of the Department was attached to the Bureau of Statistics, was transferred to the Bureau of Manufactures. The publication of the reports received from consuls is in charge of this division. Upon the transfer the publication heretofore known as "Consular Reports" was given new form and direction. Its title was amended to cover the publication of information deemed useful to our manufacturing

and commercial interests other than that contained in consular reports. It is now known as "Consular and Trade Reports." The change has added to the usefulness and popularity of the publication, and has received the commendation of all whose interests it is intended to promote.

The work of the Bureau has largely outgrown the provision made by Congress for discharging the duties which are assigned to it, and this work is constantly increasing. In the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for 1905 provision was made for clerical assistance, which was considerably reduced by the same appropriation act for the current fiscal year. Under the latter act five clerks and one assistant messenger are authorized. This force is entirely too small to do the current work of the Bureau, and its increase is recommended. Additional assistance is also urgently needed in,the work of preparing the consular reports for publication.

BUREAU OF CORPORATIONS.

The work of the Bureau of Corporations has developed along the lines indicated in the first annual report of the Commissioner. Its most important work of a legal nature has been the further study of the plan proposed in the first report for the supervision and regulation, by "Federal license," of corporations engaged in interstate and foreign commerce. The inadequacy of State legislation to regulate or control in any proper measure the corporations engaged in interstate commerce has been most clearly demonstrated. The great railway systems and the greater industrial corporations extending their operations through many States, some throughout the entire United States, are but nominally supervised or controlled by the States from which their charters were obtained. Some of these corporations have shown not only a disregard for State laws, but have become potent factors in directing the political policies of the State.

The Federal-license plan recognizes that real supervision, real regulation, can only be enforced by a government whose jurisdiction and power are great enough to cope with the corporations to be supervised or regulated.

If the principle underlying such a plan be accepted, it will not be difficult to suggest the detailed provisions for carrying it out. The objection that it would apply to too many corporations and would unnecessarily interfere with small business transactions is not well taken. Such supervision should be extended first over the greater corporations those which are clearly engaged in interstate and foreign commerce, which by their size and diverse activities tend to monopolize any of the great staples, or which have been shown to be in fact outside the control of State authority. The time is ripe for

Congress, by means of appropriate affirmative legislation, to assume such supervision or control.

Other legal work of the Bureau has been a comparative study of all State corporation laws, the Federal and State antitrust laws, and the consideration, at the request of committees of Congress and of the Department, of questions relating to railways, wireless telegraphy, and the corporation law of the District of Columbia.

The question of Federal supervision over insurance companies has been carefully considered. The recent investigations under State authority of certain insurance companies show the need of careful supervision, but it is clear that the Commissioner of Corporations, under the present act, and in view of the decisions of the Supreme Court, has no jurisdiction over insurance companies. Whether the Federal Government can supervise and regulate insurance companies can be determined only after further legislation and judicial decision. A special report dealing with certain features of the beef industry was, by direction of the President, transmitted to Congress March 3, 1905. That investigation was conducted in pursuance of a resolution of the House of Representatives. The published report dealt only with that portion of the resolution having to do with prices and the margin of profit between the price of cattle and dressed beef; the other portion of the resolution regarding combination was not reported upon, for the reason that questions relating thereto were then pending in court and being considered by the Department of Justice. A duty of the Bureau of Corporations is to obtain facts upon which Congressional action may be based; a duty of the Department of Jus tice is to prosecute for violations of law. While these duties are entirely distinct, there are instances where the Bureau of Corporations must necessarily obtain facts with which the Department of Justice is concerned. Such facts are treated as other information-reported to the President for such action as he may deem proper and necessary.

In pursuance of resolutions of the House of Representatives, special investigations of the oil and steel industries are being conducted. In both of these industries general inquiries had theretofore been begun by the Bureau.

The other investigations now in progress deal with sugar, tobacco, coal, and lumber. In all of these subjects the inquiry extends from the production of the raw material to the finished product, covering the questions of transportation and distribution as well as manufacture. It is necessary to study the foreign conditions of the great staples, for the reason that our trade conditions are affected directly by the world's markets. If the results of these investigations are to be of real value, they must be based upon the broadest possible knowledge of all conditions, both at home and abroad, affecting a special industry.

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Each investigation will be completed as rapidly as is consistent with thoroughness.

These investigations have brought the Bureau into close touch with the representatives of many of the leading industries of the country. The policy of the Department and the Bureau in dealing frankly and fairly with such representatives has generally resulted in obtaining their hearty and active cooperation. They appreciate that wise, helpful legislation on industrial questions can only be obtained by affording to the Federal Government the fullest information regarding their methods of business and needs.

The work of the Bureau will not meet the approval of those who think that industrial conditions can be changed by hasty legislation, nor of those who demand the conviction, in advance of proof, of persons charged with unfair business methods or wrongdoing, but the Department and Bureau do expect to gain the confidence and support of all men who believe in fair dealing and who recognize that permanent improvement in our industrial conditions can only be obtained when the truth regarding those conditions has been found by unprejudiced, painstaking investigations, and that the evils arising out of illconsidered legislation are quite as great as those which such legislation seeks to destroy.

BUREAU OF LABOR.

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1905, the Bureau of Labor issued its nineteenth annual report that for 1904. This report presents the results of an extensive investigation into the wages and hours of labor in the leading manufacturing and mechanical industries of the United States during the period from 1890 to 1903, inclusive. This investigation was designed to cover thoroughly the principal distinctive occupations in the leading industries belonging to this large industrial group in all sections of the country, with a view to securing data which would be representative of conditions and show the trend of wages and hours of labor during the period covered. It is to be regretted that the force available for the prosecution of the work did not admit of the extension of the investigation to some of the other great industrial groups, such as transportation, mining, and agriculture. It is believed, however, that the data embodied in the report are more comprehensive and representative, so far as the manufacturing and mechanical industries are concerned, than any that have been published heretofore. The number of industries covered by the report is 67, including 519 distinctive occupations in 3,475 establishments. The data which form the basis of this report were secured in all cases by personal visits of the special agents of the Bureau to the several establishments represented, and were taken directly from the pay rolls and other records in existence and available for reference. The pres